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Finding Family Roots on Line

Please do not bash on-line genealogy too firmly (''The Web's Stepping Stones to a Family's History,'' Aug. 6). The pay sites can certainly be miserable, but there is a lot of good stuff out there, and most of it is free.

My parents said my paternal grandfather's parents came from somewhere in Czechoslovakia. After I got a free subscription to Slovak World, I got some E-mail messages asking if anyone knew anything about some surnames. I decided to do the same. Within a half-hour, I received two helpful replies.

This success propelled me to do several more searches for my surname. After several months, I received an E-mail message that said, ''Greetings from Sobotiste.'' I replied, ''Who are you and what do you want?'' The response was, ''I am the pastor at the church your ancestors have attended for some 200 to 300 years. Here is your family tree dating back to 1780!'' I found the family I have been seeking for 30 years in six months on the Web!